Project information

The Cinema Authorship of Lindsay Anderson was a three-year research project, funded by the AHRC, which ran from September 2007 - August 2010. The aims of the project were to re-evaluate Anderson's work and the established public and critical perception of the director, and to investigate Anderson's claim to the status of authorship. These aims were achieved through a detailed investigation of Anderson's private thoughts and his public statements about his work contained in the Lindsay Anderson Archive at the University of Stirling. Access to the collection was also greatly enhanced by the creation of a full item-level catalogue as part of the project. A detailed outline of the project is available below.

Project outputs

The main project outputs were a major international conference held at the University of Stirling, a detailed online catalogue of the archive, and a book presenting the research carried out by the project team.

As well as these major outcomes the project team also gave a number of conference papers, published articles and presented public events throughtout the duration of the project.

‘The Impact of National Identity in the work of Lindsay Anderson’, Isabelle Gourdin-Sangouard, presented at ‘Transnational, Transcultural, Transmedial – European Cinema Today’, International graduate film studies conference, University College Cork, May 2010.

‘The Cinema Authorship of Lindsay Anderson’, a panel at the Society of Cinema and Media Studies conference, Los Angeles, March 2010. Included the following papers from members of the project team: ‘The Auteur in the Archive: finding Lindsay Anderson’, Karl Magee; ‘The Trouble with The Old Crowd – Examining Collaboration and Authorship, Kathryn MacKenzie

‘The Cinema Authorship of Lindsay Anderson’, a panel of four papers presented by the project team at Archives and Auteurs – Filmmakers and their Archives, University of Stirling, September 2009.

‘In search of an audience: Lindsay Anderson’s Britannia Hospital’, Kathryn MacKenzie, presented at the Edinburgh International Film Audiences Conference, Filmhouse, Edinburgh, March 2009.

‘Lindsay Anderson’s O Lucky Man!: The Impossible Voyage or the Cinematic Artist’s Personal Politics’ Isabelle Gourdin-Sangouard, presented at ‘The Personal is Political: The interfaces between Politics and Culture across Europe in the 1970s’, Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, August 2009.

‘Music / Industry / Politics: Alan Price’s role in O Lucky Man!’, John Izod, presented at 1970s British Culture conference, University of Portsmouth, July 2008.

‘Private thought, public records? The publication of the Lindsay Anderson diaries’, Karl Magee, presented at the Third International Conference of the History of Records and Archives, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, September 2007.

Public events:

Exhibition of material from the Lindsay Anderson Archive at the macrobert arts centre, University of Stirling, September 2009.

Feature on the Lindsay Anderson Archive by Kathryn MacKenzie on the Archives Hub website, August 2010.

‘Archives and Auteurs’ blog started by Kathryn MacKenzie, providing information on progress of project, February 2009.

Scottish premiere of the film Never Apologize at macrobert arts centre, University of Stirling, with introduction by Karl Magee and video introduction by Malcolm McDowell and Mike Kaplan, September 2008.

Opening of Is That All There Is? An exhibition of material from the Lindsay Anderson Archive, including talk by Karl Magee, James Hockey Gallery, University of the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey, January 2008.

Introductory talk to season of Lindsay Anderson films at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre by Karl Magee, October 2007.